Government crisis in Germany Pistorius resigns - Scholz should do it again

The decision has been made: The chancellor's party, the SPD, has also agreed on a candidate for chancellor. However, the most popular politician in Germany first had to clear the way.

This article was last comprehensively updated at 11.15 pm.

Following the resignation of German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, Chancellor Olaf Scholz is to be nominated by the SPD executive committee next Monday as the candidate for chancellor in the new Bundestag elections. "We will now create clarity very quickly in the committees, Monday in the party executive: We want to go into the next election debate with Olaf Scholz," said party chairman Lars Klingbeil after digital consultations of the party executive in Berlin.

Following a controversial public debate in the SPD, Pistorius had previously cleared the way for a renewed candidacy for Chancellor. He informed the party and parliamentary group leadership that he would not be available to stand as a candidate. "This is my sovereign, personal and entirely my own decision."

Pistorius: "Olaf Scholz is a strong chancellor"

Pistorius also spoke out in favor of Scholz as a candidate for chancellor. "Olaf Scholz is a strong chancellor and he is the right candidate for chancellor." He has led a difficult coalition of three parties through perhaps the biggest crisis of recent decades. "Olaf Scholz stands for reason and prudence." This is particularly important in times of crisis like these.

Scholz is to be nominated at the regular meeting of the party executive on Monday. The members of the Executive Board already met digitally in the evening. At the same time, the SPD state premiers met with Scholz in the Lower Saxony state representation, followed by the party leadership.

Pistorius called on his party to end the candidate debate now. It had caused increasing uncertainty in the SPD and irritation among voters. This was damaging to the SPD, said Pistorius. "I didn't initiate this debate, I didn't want it and I didn't bring myself into the conversation for anything. We now have a joint responsibility to end this debate. Because there is a lot at stake."

The debate began with Mützenich and the "grumbling" in the party

After the break-up of the traffic light coalition, an increasingly loud debate developed within the SPD as to whether it would not be better to enter the race with Pistorius. In view of his significantly higher popularity ratings and presumed better election chances, more and more SPD politicians at local, state and national level had openly spoken out in his favor.

The SPD leadership had backed Scholz, but initially refrained from nominating him as a candidate for chancellor after the decision to hold a new election on February 23. The public debate began with a statement by SPD parliamentary group leader Rolf Mützenich that there was "grumbling" in the party on the K issue.

Pistorius only wanted to rule out becoming pope

For days, Pistorius made no effort to stop it. On the contrary: "In politics, you should never rule out anything, no matter what it's about," said the SPD politician as recently as Monday at an event organized by the Bavarian media group in Passau. "The only thing I can definitely rule out is becoming Pope," he added with a wink. However, Pistorius then went on to say about running for chancellor: "It's not in my life plans and, to be honest, it doesn't have to be."

Scholz formulated his claim early on

Scholz himself had already declared his ambition in July, when the break-up of the traffic light coalition was still a long way off: "I will run for chancellor to become chancellor again," he said at the time. In the past few days, he has not repeated this so clearly - obviously to avoid giving the impression that he wants to choose himself.

Following the nomination by the party executive committee with its 34 members, the party conference will vote on the candidacy for chancellor on January 11. Normally this is a formality. The first official presentation of the candidate is to take place earlier: at an "election victory conference" on November 30 in Berlin.

SPD needs an extreme race to catch up for success

If Scholz wants to be re-elected, he will have to make an extreme race to catch up. In the polls, the SPD is currently polling between 14 and 16 percent, still behind the AfD with 18 to 19 percent and far behind the CDU/CSU with chancellor candidate Friedrich Merz (CDU), which is polling between 32 and 34 percent.

Scholz recently reminded the "Süddeutsche Zeitung" of the 2021 Bundestag elections. "The reliability of such polls is manageable, as the last federal election showed, even if some people quickly forgot that." Two and a half months before the election, the SPD was also far behind the CDU/CSU - by up to 16 percentage points - until a laugh from CDU/CSU chancellor candidate Armin Laschet in the flood zone turned the mood around. The Social Democrats then won 25.7 percent of the vote in the election and Scholz became chancellor of the first traffic light coalition of SPD, Greens and FDP at federal level.

Lindner: "People know what they are getting"

Former Finance Minister Christian Lindner, who was fired by Scholz, was one of the quickest to comment on the SPD's decision on the K question. "It's fine with me if Mr. Scholz is the SPD's candidate for chancellor. People will know what they are getting. And what they don't: #economic turnaround."

dpa